Brazil: First dengue vaccines to be administered in February
Brazil is the first country in the world to offer the vaccine in the universal public system
The Brazil Ministry of Health announced that the first shipment of Takeda dengue vaccines arrived in country last Saturday.
The first shipment of 750,000 doses, of a total of 1.32 million doses to supplied by the pharmaceutical company Takeda free of charge arrived.
The remaining 570,000 doses are scheduled to arrive next month.
By the end of 2024, Brazil will have received an additional 5.2 million doses, enough to vaccinate some 3.2 million people—two doses per person with a minimum interval of three months.
At this time, the initial strategy for vaccination against dengue will include individuals aged 10 to 14 years, 11 months and 29 days, who reside in priority locations, with criteria defined based on the epidemiological scenario of the disease in the country. This age group has the highest number of hospitalizations due to dengue, after elderly people, a group for which the vaccine has not been released by Anvisa.
The first doses are expected to be administered in February.
The vaccine has shown efficacy in children and adolescents against serotypes 1, 2 and 3 of the dengue virus. However, evaluation of efficacy against serotype 4 was inconclusive due to the limited number of cases during the study.
Brazil has reported an increase in dengue in 2024 and is only projected to increase more. The country has already seen more than 66,000 cases in the first weeks of 2024, according to the Pan American Health Organization.
The projected increase in cases of the disease is due to factors such as the combination of excessive heat and intense rains - possible effects of El Niño - as pointed out by the World Health Organization (WHO). Also, the recent resurgence of serotypes 3 and 4 of the dengue virus in Brazil.
For 2025, the ministry has already contracted 9 million doses.